why men-in-love speak of their romantic partners in terms of
 goddess, worship, adore, my life, and my better half;
and why she does not often reciprocate in kind! (37)

4.  Personal Statement: My Mom: Big Doors Swing On Small Hinges: Lessons From My Mother That Changed My Life - The Dairy Princess and the true test of love - the tiny moppet who would not let go - the pantheon, the home of the gods - the conversation turned to the subject of their own dairy operation, and I was about to be introduced to a concept previously foreign to me. This farmer's wife did not help her husband with any farm work, including the milking: "Because I didn't marry him to milk cows!" came the almost-defiant retort! - a new welcoming sign referring to North Dakota as "Legendary." To this I would only add the clarification that North Dakota itself is not legendary, but some of its people are. click here to access article

"I want to marry you not because you're beautiful, smart, and
perfect; it's because, when I'm with you, I don't feel alone" (37)

 

 

5.  Personal Statement: Grandpa's Farm: Places In The Heart : Geography as Destiny -  "If a place could be a person, this place would be me" - my dear sister, Alice - the people who invented the word "legendary" - hanging upside down, dangling, from the back of a tractor - the little white school house - late night conversations while planting wheat - There's a story about the ancient Jews, conquered by the Babylonians, and taken hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem. While living far from their homeland, these captives, in their prayers and worship, as expressed in their writings, remembered with great affection the land of their fathers, even to the extent that the rocks and dirt of that ancestral place would be precious to them. click here to access article

"The most vivid dream of my life, a baby girl, about two years-old, playfully ambling about. I hear the words that I have never forgotten, ones that often invade and pierce my consciousness: Daddy, Daddy, please tell me the story, again, about how much you loved Mommy!" (61, 62, 63)

"Summerland, the World of the Yellow Rose, is the ultimate promise of a new beginning; the ultimate second chance and fresh page; the ultimate celebration of a new life together; the ultimate mending of a rift, the conciliatory persuasion of, Dear Sweetheart, let's just start all over again, ok?" (63)

7.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: The Love Story of Elmere and Franklin: Summerland, Where Dreams Come True   - He goes and gets himself killed in World War I; she never marries and, 75 years later, passes to the Next Life. Will she find Franklin after such a long time? - Summerland is earth-like because many of our feelings, hopes, and dreams will still be earth-bound when we get there; because we will need a place to do earth-like things for awhile! - bike riding in the next world - "There is no doubt among psychoanalysts... [they] vehemently deny that there can be [true] love without sex" - if you have no lover now in this world, you will, if you so desire, very likely meet someone in Summerland with whom to share romance; and, together, you two will explore the meaning of romantic love... in that paradise that is Summerland! click here to access article

"My Dear, O My Lost! I sweep aside the rubble of our years to see you clear of their shadow. I have looked upon you too long, and with so much love, that strangers can see you in my face!"

8.  Personal Statement: THE GRANDFATHER: Killing Ourselves Laughing: The Way We Were: Worshipping The Goddess Of Labor   - the Grandpa and the war dance; or was he trying to make it rain? - marching out of hell together - why did the boy cross the fence? - the face of evil on a good man - Uncle Bud and the tinker's damn - we learn from Abraham Maslow that all of one's energies, during times of crises, are marshaled to achieve the first priority, that of simple survival. And in that process of trying to stay alive, new definitions of morality are forged: work and production, industry and self-discipline, fortitude and a no-nonsense disposition, all of these can form a distorted view of life and reality, and become the highest and most revered principles. click here to access article

"then, finally, my eyes met The One whom my soul loves,
I ran to him, held him tightly in my arms,
and I would not let him go" (51)

9.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: The Story of Della: The Bride Who Did Not See Her Husband Off To War - this new bride's GI-husband was leaving for WWII, but she could not bring herself to kiss him goodbye, but only wave from the balcony; 70 years later she would understand why - the Granite Club and the polite request - the forbidden girl in the farmhouse - "It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations"- Della came to see, 60 years after the fact, that her marriage to Jack was nothing more than an association based on utility, mutual convenience; they each needed something from the other, support and comfort in a hostile world; most marriages are of this sort. click here to access article

"A star breaks, arcs down the night. See my lips move, making your name. It is so still, 
so still. I am sure that you must hear me; when a star falls, I shall wish for you" (46)

10.  Personal Statement: How To Raise a Crop of Valedictorians: What Aunt Mag and Betty Sperle Knew and Most of us Don't - how to give your child a superior mind - Benjamin Bloom, one of the most influential educators of the 20th century, presented important research in his book, All Our Children Learning, wherein he stated emphatically that all normal children, with so-called average intelligence, can achieve A's in any subject, if only they can be given the individual tutorial care needed to help them over the rough spots! - "there's someone coming through for you... I feel a mother's soul vibration... it's your mother's sister... Magdelane." click here to access article

"But, O that I were young again and held her in my arms!" (63)

11. Personal Statement: True Confessions: Individuation: You Are Not A True Person Until You Think Your Own Thoughts   - when I was 17, one simple question from Dad would send me careening and crashing, spinning out of orbit, send me around the world, away from home and hearth, for decades -  "this rage in my heart shut down my emotions, my true feelings, separated me from my true self... and from the people in my life who meant most to me" - "It is time to grow up now, you cannot be a man, you cannot even be a true person, if you do not begin to think your own thoughts; because, there is something immoral about denying your own judgment, and living according to someone else's script. And even if you are wrong, you must still do this, even if you are the only one, in your family, in your community, or in the universe, the only one who thinks as you think, because your very sense of personhood is at stake here." click here to access article

Do you believe in something you've never seen before?
The sacred status of One Person:
you cannot be closer to her than that! (37)

12.  Personal Statement: True Confessions II: There Is Something Immoral About Denying Your Own Judgment  -  Doc Goodman, Carrie's Dad, would read the church newspaper during mass, such a radical idea for me then! hey, mister, you can't read a newspaper in church! - internal vs. external guidance systems - the universe and the big smiley face! - children need the freedom to think, as the spirit moves them; and while guidance might be a good thing, especially for younger children, when one approaches majority age, it is quite unwise to attempt to force a young adult to tow a particular view. Very unwise. Each child, if he or she is to become a fully functioning adult, must develop a keen sense of personal autonomy and independent thinking. The harder Dad pushed, the harder I had to push back, just to maintain my own respect. click here to access article

"In my life, I love you more!"
delighting in that Cooing Melodic Voice;
that impertinent little nuisance-in-peddlepushers
who grew up to be the most beautiful girl in the world;
the one who now bewitches, body and soul (26)

"The first sight of the beloved is like the spirit that moved on the face of the waters, from which flowed forth heavens and the earth. The first sight of life's companion echoes God's words, Let there be... It is the beginning of magical tremblings that separate the lovers from the world of space and dimensions and carry them to the world of revelation and dreams." Khalil Gibran.   Editor's note: The "first sight" is not mediated by the eyes, the physical senses. The "first sight" occurs when his soul awakens to her true identity. (46)

15.  Personal Statement: Part II: "Lies, Damned Lies" and Economics - "The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups. Nine-tenths of the economic fallacies that are working such dreadful harm in the world today are the result of ignoring this lesson." - "the Germans and Japanese built new factories after the Allies bombed them; and now, they have the most modern factories and out-do us. I guess the American and British bombers did the Axis Powers a huge favor when we pummeled them into the stone age... well, maybe we should just bomb our own factories, and share this wealth!" - there are only two economists in history, with all the rest as mere commentary - capitalism, the unequal distribution of wealth; socialism, the equal distribution of misery -  click here to access article

"It is strange, this my need of you; yesterday I gathered
seashells, but I had no one to show them to." (28, 51)

What did Emily see? (25)
negotiating the Ultimate Human Suffering,
Separation from a Destined Lover (28)

17.  Personal Statement: Wealth Creation and Preservation: F.A. Hayek's The Road To Serfdom - the Rule of Law is the legal embodiment of freedom - political correctness is an attempt at censorship by those who cannot bear to hear the truth - "Our German scientists are better than your German scientists" - legislative gridlock is an American achievement not a defect, not something to overcome - socialists pray for crises, and when they are able to do so, will exacerbate them - why did the most cultured civilization on earth, Germany of the 19th century, later welcome to power, by democratic process, the darkest forces of totalitarianism? - one of the great universal themes of life is that of hope, confidence in the future, without which civilization dies... click here to access article

the truest Test of Love... no, it's you, it's only you (51)

18.  Personal Statement: My Dear Grandparents: Ma & Pa Marquart: The Sacramental Rites of Familial Love  - "There are two very strong women coming through for you. I have not known this kind of strength of personality before! They will not let me go" - Elizabeth Kuhn's family fled the ominous gathering storm of European socialism. Their perspicacity and prescience, reluctantly, led them to abandon long-established farms, fields, orchards, and houses - In mere days, Ma and Pa lost four sons! all of their sons! and one daughter, Agnes - By this sharing of bread and creamed-coffee, taken in a saucer, in the ancient traditional manner, I was being baptized into the fellowship of Ma's most sacred memories of familial and societal joy - Dear Word Gems readers: I have a hope, a prayer, for you... that someone will love you this way. click here to access article

"since you've gone, I've been lost without a trace" (37)

19.  Personal Statement: The Story of A Good Little Boy: A Case of Mistaken Identity: How We Refuse To Become Who We Really Are: I Can't Imagine Love Without You - "Thank you so much for coming. Mom said that she refused to die... until you came!" - Nothing is static. People can change when they want to change. And whether we linger on lower levels, or desire to become something more, it's all a matter of a "state of mind, a state of awareness, a consciousness" - Stevie Wonder: "One Atlantis summer's night" - "I felt just free of everything. I'm no one's wife, mother, or daughter. I am myself, alone" - Pathologically, he stands aloof from her; effectively, rejects her first, before she can reject him! - Dear Heart, where did you get the idea, the self-concept, that God doesn't love you enough... you, of all people... click here to access article

portal-of-entry to The Mystery (28);
the orchid and the meaning of The Dazzling Darkness (26)

21.  Personal Statement: How To Know If You Belong To A Cult: Why The Lying Teacher Always Comes Dressed As A Lamb  - What Ike and JFK tried to tell us - as Henry Kissinger said, sometimes the whole world really is against you - finding freedom in an unfree world - the Beast and the False Prophet, and other fun guys - "Why did we allow ourselves to go through that? Why did we let them tell us that we were no good? Why did we put up with all of the disrespect? Why didn't we just walk away?" - Because of the spiritual emptiness in their lives, these monster-hearts, with their misguided personal searches for love and happiness, will be attracted to positions of power, which, they believe, will make them happy - the gentle St. Francis of Assisi, this friend of animals and nature, one of my heroes of history, is a most tragic figure, a bloodied victim of vicious and political designs. The most famous story of him may be that of his interaction with a wolf which had been terrorizing a village. St. Francis represents naked and vulnerable sacrificial love in this dark world... click here to access article

"He would love you, you now understand, even if you lost your beauty, because he is not drawn to you, merely, as a physical form; he would want you, even at 91, lying on a nursing-home bed, a barely-quivering mass of incoherent protoplasm; you gasp as you see him there now, resting beside you, touching your hand, he will not leave you... he loves you like that!" (51)

22.  Personal Statement: Things You Don't Wanna Know:  Saving the Scripture from Superstition: How Literalism Has Ruined the Spiritual Message of the World's Greatest Book! - does The Almighty really need to be defended?  is God so fragile, so delicate, so easily offended, that he cannot bear an open discussion regarding the nature of truth? - "grace" means "you are enough"! that you, yourself, just by yourself, alone, are worth more than the entire universe - how many know that St. Paul, publically, before the whole church, called Peter a hypocrite? so much for the infallible Peter! - "When people defend their world view, they are not defending reason, or God, or an abstract system; they are defending their own fragile sense of security. It is as instinctive as defending one's own body from attack" - God is Light; which means that it is his nature to reveal himself; but only when we are ready. click here to access article

"the unspoken pledges of the soul" (26)

 

23.  Personal Statement: Part 1: Forgiveness, The Final Battle: What I Learned From Father John Kuhn -  what does the word forgive really mean?  - Jesus, the Master Teacher, employed the analogy of "Living Water," an artesian well, to illustrate the positive energy within our own divine souls which might bubble-up to the surface of our consciousness - a fish doesn't know that it lives in water, as it is utterly common and natural to it; so, too, was forgiveness meant to be second-nature to us - "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them" - forgiveness has nothing to do with a gritting of the teeth, or "trying very hard to be spiritual"; in fact, if you employ such effort, all you'll have for your trouble is more identification with grievance; more disconnection from one's essential self, and you'll end up feeling worse, with more internal dissonance - in the "dark night of the soul, it is always three o'clock in the morning" - in a few moments, someone like a Father John Kuhn can teach you all that you need to know about forgiveness... click here to access article

Why does absence from her pain me so? It's that exuding joy!
That sense about her of ever wanting to rejoice... with me!
to use Heloise's phrase, it is "the joy of your presence" (46)

24.  Personal Statement: Do Genetics Influence Homosexuality? dedicated to my cousin - "There are three camps: the first, solely a function of nurture; another, the result of genetics; a third takes a middle road" - " He said that virtually every animal species that has been studied, from sheep to fruit flies, has a small minority of individuals who demonstrate homosexual activity" - "i am a homosexual who is living in an islamic country. i did not chose to be gay, how ridiculous it is to chose to be gay in an islamic country, because the punishment of homosexuality in islam is just DEATH" - "the Spartans used homosexuality as part of their military training. Every young man would have an adult lover who would teach him the arts of war" - "If you can't make a male attracted to other males by cutting off his penis, castrating him and rearing him as a girl, then how likely is any social explanation of male homosexuality?" click here to access article

the glowing deep purple (32)
"Heaven knows how much I love you!" (37)

25.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: The Soulmate Story of Norma and Richard: Why Destined Lovers Fail To Recognize Each Other - what would happen if she somehow were to merge with one's own healthy self-image? If that were to happen, loving her would be as easy as loving oneself... it might be the same thing! - "I have nowhere to go until my prayer is answered; nor do I want to. I shall remain, you may assuredly know, faithful to you, in anticipation of seeing you once again... for the first time" - "Norma advised: A soulmate is one you might not recognize at first. She might be around you earlier in life, but you might not see her! You might go away, and all will seem different" - "The god that we serve really doesn't like us very much. He ignores us. So, we beat on our drums in order to get his attention" - "Come to me. Get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace" - these words, "I am you," mean to signify an eternal principle; but, paradoxically, instead of etched in granite, are here inscribed on the evanescent canvas of a frosted pane... click here to access article

she, with her flowers and her birds; (25)
why Eve was not created with Adam;
"and God said, you shall die, you shall surely die, without her!" (37)

 

26.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: Soulmate, Myself: The Story of The French Girl Denise, The Perfect Resume: Everything a Man Could Want, But She's Not You - I remember a sensation of emptiness within myself! This is not the way it happens in the movies - Denise truly was "the perfect resume"; a genuinely good person; sweet, a special kind of sweetness resident in the French female, a frequently-occurring trait of those whose culture deifies romantic love - while fine attributes are wonderful, and always in demand, these will all come in time, a normal function of soul development; but what will not come in time is this sense of deep connection with another - I almost fell over, so attractive was she to me; my knees, as per the proverb, did turn to jello, and I could hardly stand! - it's about that transcendent sense of familiarity; it's about entering The Mystery, with her; it's about feeling that you have finally "come home," that True Home, which is what she will be to you  - even in the midst of that "kiss of death," his heart will yearn and mourn for you. Never worry that you will lose him; you cannot lose yourself - he has seen the Ultimate Beauty Bare; the JelloGirl cannot compete with that - she will fly you to the moon, beyond the solar system, and into the vast Dazzling Darkness of interstellar space - she is a little bit sassy sometimes though... click here to access article

"you were born together, and together you shall be, forevermore";
"the real love is so magnetic, so overwhelming,
whether in this life or the next, it comes only once!" (37)

27.  Personal Statement: Part II: Valedictorian Super-Mom: What Betty Marquart Sperle Knows and Most of Us Don't - "Every one of our 12 children could read before they started school; you see that row of 20 books? Lisa (today a chemical engineer) read every one of those before the first grade!" - the quiet farmer, the closet intellectual: "Don't I get any credit in this?" - "Five of my kids were valedictorians in their senior class" - Betty had created a learning environment in which it was ok to experiment; ok to fail; ok to make mistakes; ok to try again... no condemnation... no "original sin" to work off... no guilt-trip... no self-loathing - the ancient Greeks drew a distinction between education and training. Education was for a free man! Training was for a slave! - I couldn't make a mistake around her. Whatever good thing I wanted to do or accomplish, that's all that was important; don't worry about mistakes, they don't matter, you just go ahead and try your best - true education is a process bordering on the other-worldly! something that allows a Soul to feel its own Freedom; a process by which one's Essential Self blossoms into an Independent Person. Education is a fanning of the Fire within! It creates a thirst and hunger to know, to have, and to become, regarding all that which is good in life. click here to access article

the story of Agnes and David:
"this once-pesky little girl with freckles, standing before him,
awash in tears, her heart so overcharged;
she, to whom his Soul, he now perceives,
has always been... married!" (37)

28.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: The Perfect Storm of Ultimate Human Suffering: Exploring Cosmic Meaning in Separation from a Soulmate Lover: Making Your Music Pure - "A soulmate bond is not a conventional emotional relationship... the most powerful soul-level connection... you just can't get over it ... creates a tsunami of pain... you miss your partner every minute ... a torture of aching and needing... the pain doesn't lessen... a bereavement... feels as if your heart will burst out of your chest and fly to your true partner... beyond anything experienced before. If you fight it, or try to stay apart, the pain, anguish, and confusion, will show you just how special this bond is" - "If my wife goes to the bazaar without my permission, I will kill her. This is our culture" - "Laughing together is the height of eroticism" - "I can never live so much as a single day in which the music in my heart is not dominant. If I am to live with a man, it must be one whose inner music harmonizes with mine, and his single desire must be that his own music be pure" - "There is no misery more profound, no depth of despair greater, than that into which lovers are plunged when they are bereft, disappointed, unrequited" - in rare cases, portals-of-entry might have freckles... click here to access article

the love-letter and the suggestive request (37)

29.  Personal Statement: Economic Update: The Picture of Dorian Gray: Seeing Ourselves in The Portrait of Today's Washington - civilization hangs precariously by a slender thread, that of confidence in the future; without which, people will stop planting oak trees, or building structures made of stone - the word "God" is merely a shortened version of "The Good"; all things God allows in this world are "good"; that which we myopically call "bad," in fact, is meant to serve a longer-term higher purpose; stated another way, there are certain "good" things that can be seen, and received, only by experiencing certain "bad" things - Pravda: "like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed. Putin warned Obama not to follow Marxism, it only leads to disaster; even though we suffered 70 years of this horror show, we know nothing, so let our 'wise' Anglo-Saxon fools find the folly of their own pride" - George Harrison: "I don't know how someone controlled you, bought and sold you, you were diverted, perverted, inverted, no one alerted you" - we might live long enough to experience a worldwide bursting and blossoming of enlightenment; the enflowering of previously-unknown elevated levels of human awareness and consciousness; maybe, even the next stage of our progression as a species. click here to access article

What is the greatest human misery? Is it the concentration camp horror? Those who have endured such terror say that it is not (28). Emily Dickinson suggests that the greatest pain is the threatened loss of one's Deepest Self (28). She is correct; but only in part. What if one were to become aware of one's spiritual counterpart, that Cosmic Half to one's own Being; and what if, early in life, one were to lose her? Such utter deficit might become the functional equivalent of losing one's own Person! Like a young abused child, the hapless would-be Lover might repress and block from mental view the terror of such ultimate loss; and, like that child, might recall to mind such devastation only later in life, a time of greater wholeness and enlightenment (46)... memories and thoughts of her, now rising, irrepressibly rising, from misty depths of the silently grieving subconscious... memories and thoughts of her, now rising, inexorably rising, from the incoherence of misspent youth to the white-light of uppermost levels of awareness... memories and thoughts of her, after so long a time, coming into focus, now rising, her glistening image now insistently rising, from the sacred inner-sanctum of his soul... memories and thoughts of her, so much lighter than air, joyously presenting themselves, ascending, rapidly now... soaring, along with his awakened desire for her, like a glorious, gorgeous, gossamer balloon!

30.  Personal Statement: Anger: the Soul's Blinding, the Ego's Cry of Resistance: How We Fail to Recognize the Loves of Our Lives: My Friendship with... Carolyn Kuhn Sperle - "Frank told me that he'd prayed for seven years that we could be married" - a mother's highest compliment - "Anthony said, 'You often come here to see me, but you never ask me anything,' and the other replied, It is enough to see you, Father" - Anger is the Ego's resistance to life itself. Instead of learning from the lessons that life gives to us, we want to fight, as we whine that life is unfair - Within the short span of 30 minutes I found myself in receipt of two somewhat-mystical experiences! - We can learn so much from animals. They have no egos to defend. They don't make speeches about how unfair life is. Life simply is, what it is. They make adjustments when circumstances threaten; they fight or give flight. But, when it's over, it's over. There are no egoic horror movies in the mind, endlessly looping and replaying, in which they star as the innocent victim - sometimes I can't hear what she's saying because the Message of her life, and who she is, speaks so loudly... click here to access article

Iris and Anselm, making your music pure;
why Twin-Soul Lovers cannot immediately come together (28)

31.  Personal Statement: Finding Healing From Religious Abuse: The Nature of Authentic Spiritual Authority: What I Learned From Father John Kuhn - "HE SAID WHAT! Well, we'll just see about that. You see that curb over there? I'm gonna sit on that curb, and I will be there when the Bishop arrives" - David Hedrick: "I'm a Marine Corps vet. And, like you, I did swear an oath to defend my Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic - Most of you do not believe in autocratic, top-down, soviet-style politics; so, why do you accept this in your spiritual life? - Paul forced Peter to move out of his comfort zone, away from long-held concepts, cherished even from childhood - the wolves will tell you, without religion, the people will run wild; that freedom will destroy us; you know, this sounds like the kind of Marxist drivel that we're getting from Washington today - He needs to rule, and she needs to be needed - how many psychological beatings will you take until you leave that abusive husband? - Abigail Adams: "I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many, or a few, is ever grasping - Dostoyevsky: "A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth" - the lady beside Uncle John can't laugh hard enough! In so many of Father John's photos he stands amidst near-riotous laughter. Authentic spiritual authority is not a complicated concept; it simply means becoming a True Human Being, and encouraging others to join in the fun... click here to access article

"In the depths of my soul there are songs unwilling to take the garb of words. Were you to look into my eye you would see the image of their image. My tears disclose them... I will tell you of an unhappy woman. She awoke from the thoughtlessness of youth to find herself in the house of a man who was unable to touch her heart with the spark of vivifying love." Khalil Gibran

32.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: The Mysterious World of Twin Soul Lovers: The Glowing Deep Purple: Why True Romance Will Last Forever -Steve Gunn: "A soulmate connection can only be understood at the soul level, the level of the connection itself" - shaken by the stark realism of the dream, he immediately began to doubt himself: "This is just my mind trying to make me feel better" - Whitney Houston: "I haven't been the same, since that cold November day, And the only thing I learned is that I need you desperately" - a still small voice, a vivid dream, a sense that a lover's soul-energy is nearby, a very soft yes, for those with open eyes, will be sufficient, during this time of separation, from her - "Since you cannot see yourself as the Light, when you are in the Light, we'll surround you with Darkness.You could not know Warm without Cold, Up without Down" - the greatest delights in Life come not from owning good things, but from becoming Goodness itself - your Twin Soul is your Perfect Soul-Likeness! But she is also your Perfect Mirror-Opposite! She is, to you, the Ultimate Expression of Duality, of opposing-complementing forces! - you are Complete! but you cannot know, or feel, your own Completeness, without her! - what is romantic love? it is the thrill of approaching oneness - click here to access article

"Oh, you nawty-nawty boy" (37);
wild, and beguiled, about you, that "new girl" (26)

33.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: The Story of The Fish and The Crab: Twin-Soul Love and The Purging Fire: Freedom, Only In This Case, I Covet Not: Loving According To Each Other's Liking - the story of the Crusty Fortress Crab and the Beautiful Darting Fish - the Kama Sutra passage is nothing less than a version of The Golden Rule, but set within the context of erotic love! - "It means that when you love me, I will let you love me, exactly the way you want to love me, not the way I think you should love me; and, when I love you, I will love you exactly the way you want to be loved, and not the way I think you should be loved" - Rilke wrote that the ideal relationship is one in which two partners guard and protect each other's privacy and solitude - "You know, Frances, I'm getting really tired of taking Tim to the prom!" - You say that you want to find your Twin Soul. Do ya wanna go for a ride? - "I love this person. But what if he is not my ultimate Twin Soul? If he is only a soulmate, does that mean I might not be able to love him in Summerland?" - Those whom the gods would destroy are encouraged to find their Twin Souls! - Each needs to hear, to revel, to find healing, in these words... I just want you - Both of our friends got what they wanted. That's how hell works these days - click here to access article

"freedom, only in this case, I covet not" (25);
the love story of the Fish and the Crab (33)

34.  Personal Statement: What You Need To Know Before You Die: How Your Religious Beliefs Can Hurt You For Hundreds Of Years To Come: How I Helped A Departed Relative, Trapped In Fears Of Judgment, To Go To The Light -  What is the freedom like? It is not the freedom of immorality. It is the absolute freedom to be myself, without any fear, at all, of judgment, of death, of the future, of what people think, of anything - "All their talk about the law is gas. They themselves don't keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe." - "Belief" isn't about forcing oneself to accept words. There is no "belief" without first having a spiritual experience - Albert Einstein: "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth" - "Your Uncle has taken your advice and has passed over to the Light. He is still somewhat apprehensive, having just arrived there. Your grandmother has met him, so that is good; he has not yet seen your Dad. He is not yet sure that he has made the right decision, but, he is there now, and he will be alright." click here to access article

This towering cumulus cloud signals unstable, turbulent, atmospheric conditions; likewise, the cloud-cover generated by the Ego, the Great False Self, means trouble within; a cloaking device, covering the sun, the glory of one's own soul; a confusion, a lack of perspective, comprised of anger, arrogance, petulance, and self-pity, all of which block from view that Destined Cosmic Romantic Lover. While suffering such malady, lost in this malaise of egocentrism, he will not recognize her, discern her secret identity... even if she's close by... even if he sees her every day... even if, as Diamond Rio sang, she's only a few fence-posts away... that familiar, but quite unknown, girl next door! (36, 40)

35.  Personal Statement: The Pathological Need To Be Right: My Heated Argument With 90 Year-Old Della: Facing the Epicenter of Evil, in One's Own Heart - an Indian mystic once wryly asserted, "if you think you're so spiritual, just spend a week with your parents," or get married, you'll find out - Della can barely see; at times, suffers from dementia; can hardly walk, a mass of old bones and quivering protoplasm; yet, I became so angry when she attacked me with her half-baked ideas; why did I become so heated? - Carl Jung: "Man is the great danger! We are the origin of the coming evil!" - baptism, meant to be mere symbolism of inner cleansing, when executed by the wolves, suggests the fantastic notion that the Cosmic God, The One who inhabits all dimensions and all universes, would somehow be so impressed if your flesh had water sprinkled on it! - Erich Fromm: "the truth-sayers are so deeply hated even when they do not constitute a real threat to the established order" - Make Peace With The Unknown, For It Shall Always Be With You - The True Life, that Grand Life, is not about catching the elusive butterfly of being right. It is about living in The Mystery! an acknowledgement that growth and development is Eternal - The Good Little Boy, ever on duty; a blindness, keeping him from other duties - Eva Cassidy: "If you're lost you can look, and you will find me, I will be waiting, I will be waiting" - a friend once encouraged me that I am allowed more than one mistake, as many as I need - click here to access article

"all across the universe the stars are fading,
come and let me look in your eyes" (37)

36.  Personal Statement: The Death of The Great False Self: Nothing Left To Lose After Losing You: Developing Your Psychic Abilities, Understanding Mysteries, Becoming Love Itself - What is the Unpardonable Sin? Is God compassionate? but the Holy Spirit a little touchy? can't really take a joke too much? - Sharon almost gasped as she read the words representative of this woman's purity and spirituality: "There is something so fine, so warm, and all embracing, in your Soul that you can touch the Cosmic Mind and Heart if you aspire to Divine Love." This comes close to perfected agape-love! - It might almost be said that the measure of the artwork's brilliance is the measure of the suffering of the artist! - "I can't live with myself anymore!" But as these words shattered the night, he suddenly realized something: "Who is this I and who is this self? Are there two of me? And, if there are, maybe one is a False Self!" - Suddenly, he is flung back, across the room, sent sprawling, as if attacked by some unseen force. Sharon would later discern that this was her Grandmother, in Spirit, defending her! - "Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought" - psychic abilities are the natural and normal functionings of a mind unencumbered by fears! part of your heritage as a child of God! - once The Great False Self dies, who are you? Don't you know who you are? - click here to access article

"the pain, anguish, and confusion" (26, 28)

37.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: Part II: The Troubadour and the Wedding Song: All That You Have Is Your Soul: Woman As Transforming Fire: Do You Believe In Something You've Never Seen Before? - most romantic attraction is a short-lived chemical feast in the brain; but the real stuff is based on eternal, never-diminishing, soul energies! - strictly speaking, romantic love is not love at all - vows: an artifice, a beggarly contrivance, an external attempt to make certain a doubtful internal commitment - "her name was Ann, and I'll be damned" - the fear of rejection by women is greater than the desire to be with her! women do not know this - not True Marital Unions at all, but merely negotiated business partnerships; quid pro quo agreements, something for something; and none of this will cause the Troubadours to remain - Hypatia was torn from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged into their church, and was butchered; then they made Cyril a saint - Noah had to jar Allie out of immature concepts of right-and-wrong, ones externally imposed upon her: "What do you want!" he shouted at her - if you aren't married before the ceremony, you will never be married - Yvonne would have introduced Adam to Female; but only Eve, his Twin, could help Adam know Woman! - we have been told that you cannot separate something God has joined; but, it is equally true, you cannot join that which God has separated - St. Paul uses the phrase, if he is not "pleased to dwell with her," then, she is not bound to the marriage! - the Sacred Oneness that Twins enjoy is meant to serve as philosophical blueprint by which they, as Troubadours, will help construct a New Cosmic Society of the Loving Interconnectedness of All ... all gathered in His name! - Come and let me look in your eyes... click here to access article

"I'm gonna change, just mark my words!" (37)

38.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: The Soulmate Story of Ed and Kerri: Still A Whisper On My Lips: If I Should Meet Thee After Long Years, How Should I Greet Thee? With Silence and Tears - "We were only 13, in junior high. We had been friends for awhile. I knew that I liked Kerri, but I was very young, and very much interested in 'guy things.' Even though we were the same age, she was more mature, ahead of me" - I once told you that you need never fear the competition of the JelloGirl if you can show him The Dazzling Darkness! By this I meant to say, if you can help him to access the wonder of his own Soul, he will never forget you! and he will yearn for you as he would yearn for his own life - This most basic gift, one most powerful and efficacious for good, is the gift of one's own Self... a Self quietly at peace... consecrated to God... needing nothing from anyone else... whole and pure... ready to assist another to reach one's highest and best; but, in the meantime, enjoying its own company, in the presence of heaven - "I have grieved for Kerri for 20 years. It's been 20 years since I woke up to who she is to me. Her memory, my grief, is like a constant awareness, a pain, that never goes away. She is always there." click here to access article

and St. Paul said,
"We must not pursue the kind of physical love
that leaves us lost and more lonely than ever,
the kind that can never become One!" (37)

39.  Personal Statement: Wealth Creation and Preservation: An All-Weather Investment Strategy Offering Wealth Protection During Uncertain Times, Almost No Matter What Happens * Inflation * Deflation * Prosperity * Depression * Chaos - click here to access article

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night (1889)

"I miss you, Darling, more and more, every day, as heaven would
miss the stars above, with every heartbeat I still think of you" (46)

40.  Personal Statement: The Amazing Story of My Friend, World War II Hero, Silver-Star Recipient, 89 Year-Old Robert Feland: The Man They Could Not Kill. Previously published commentary has featured his great bravery and medals earned for rescuing men in a minefield - but Bob shared with me additional information, an untold aspect, one most extraordinary. His report is one of the most astonishing accounts I have ever heard! He tells me many have not believed him - but I believe him, and present to you his testimony, in print, for the first time! click here to access article

• Editor's note: Some of the following titles are in production and not yet posted.

41.  Personal Statement: Jesus' Artesian Well of Eternal Refreshment and the Awakening of Your Own Soul: The Suppressed Story of The Early Christians: Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot, It Will Guide You Well: Will The People Run Wild Without Religion? 

all that you have is your soul;
and Jesus said,
"most of you will not be able to accept this" (37)

42.  Personal Statement: The Fear of Death and the Meaning of Judgment in the AfterLife: We Cannot Escape our Responsibility to Unfold the Spirit, to Evolve as a Soul, to Love Ourselves! I'm not afraid of dying, but I am afraid of losing you! - Conviction cannot be borrowed from another; transferred, like a negotiable instrument. - There is no punishment over there; only education. And no external source will judge us. - "On Earth you are the apprentice to your own soul." - "Everything is formed of energy, not matter; vibrating energy sets up the illusion of materiality. Things exist only to the extent that they are observed." -  "love is not a victory march, it's a cold and broken Hallelujah" - Seeing one's father on his death-bed is a surreal experience. I saw an entire lifetime flashing in his eyes. - You will go to where you believe you deserve to go! - "It is not so much what you will find when you come to this side of life as what you will bring with you." - "a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; trinket gods and magic-show religion" - "I found him in a dark damp root-cellar filled with rats. He was naked, sitting on the cold floor, fetal-positioned, shivering; he just wanted to die, but could not." - "He wants you to know that he is your assistant now!" - Enlightened theology is a marriage between science and spirituality. - "How could I have been so wrong about so many things!" - Energies of self-loathing can keep a man in the dark realms for hundreds of years! - "with him, all deaths I could endure; without him, live no life." He speaks softly to her heart, waiting for that traumatized Sleeping Beauty to wake up... click here to access article

"The great truths that are above nature do not pass from one human being to another by means of ordinary human speech. Rather, they choose silence as the path between souls. I know well that the silence of this night hastens between our souls bearing messages more subtle than the words written by the spring breeze. It recites the book of our heart to our two hearts. But just as God wills to imprison souls in bodies, it is the will of love to make me a prisoner of words... Forgive me, Beloved, for I have addressed you as 'you,' yet you are the fair half of me which I lost when we left the hand of God at the same moment. Forgive me, my Beloved." Khalil Gibran

43.  Personal Statement: How To Know If Something Is Really True: Ph.D. Shopping, Selective Enquiry, Fishing Expeditions, Beginning With The Conclusion, Drawing a Bulls-Eye Around the Arrow in the Wall, Ignoring Data, and Other Games People Play When They Don't Wanna Know: Letting Go of The Myth of Certainty and Loving The Ever-Unfolding Mystery of Life!

clock ticks, I think of you,
confusion, nothing new,
I say, go slow, I've fallen behind,
I will be waiting, I will be waiting (38)

44.  Personal Statement: Things You Don't Wanna Know: Jesus Christ and a History of Vicarious Atonement Theories: Can One's Virtue, Like A Credit Balance, Be Transferred To Another? What Salvation Really Means For The Perfect Soul Made In God's Image: Truly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of prison till you have paid the last penny!

"I simply say, baby, my sweet baby, you're the one! you're the one!" (51)

45.  Personal Statement: The Tragic Story of a Man Named Shooter: Dr. Roger Bannister, Smashing the 4-Minute Mile, and the Misuse of Sports: the Humanities, the Liberal Arts, and Becoming a Free Person: Why The Fate of The Ball Should Not Rule Your Life! 

the Kiss of Death, the JelloGirl,
a valuable lesson learned (26), and
how John and Mary damage each other (37)

"giving in a receiving way, receiving in a giving way!"

46.  Personal Statement: Love In The AfterLife: Romance at the Pinnacle of Existence! The Ultimate Dualistic-Halves of Eternal Twin-Soul Love! Why Your Deepest Yearning is the Voice of the Universe Proclaiming Its Truest Cosmic Message! I will love no other! no other! - I felt that I was being repeatedly struck by lightning! - Rabbi Sameth: How could God be male and not female? - Romantic love is really agape love with training wheels! - Dad and Uncle Joe did not go to Summerland! - Father Eric Hodgens: We are the priests of joy and hope! - My despair was extreme. I called wildly for her, struck myself, tore my hair - A spiritual potential with no discoverable upper limit! - We were neither in heaven nor hell, but in a perfectly normal world leading a life packed with thrills! - Karl Barth: We cannot escape the conclusion of a plurality in the Divine Essence! - If we are to have a greater consciousness, just what is it that we are to become conscious of? - Father Henri Nouwen: Both manhood and womanhood are fully present in God - Robert Joyce: Romantic love is giving in a receiving way, receiving in a giving way - Father Robert Benson: God created the AfterLife not for our judgment but for our particular happiness! - A mind preoccupied with love lost cannot genuinely devote itself to God! - He finds her in the AfterLife: I kissed her lips, which were warm, soft, and natural - Beloved, I remember finding out about you; I remember little else. I have always been a storm; as you now know, especially about you! - click here to access article

"Forgive me, Beloved. I have never known this feeling.
Is it any wonder, then, I failed to recognise you?"

47.  Personal Statement: Reincarnation on Trial: Fantasy or Fact? The Central Issue: Whose Memories Are They? When I tire out, I'll come home to you! - was this boy once a WWII fighter pilot? - the Earth is awash in unseen discarnate spirits, like barnacles covering the hull of a ship, confused entities who have refused to go to the Light - ones you have loved and lost will be regained, and they will look and be exactly as you knew them! How else could you regain them if they were not? - have aborted babies, or children who die young, missed their chance to learn important lessons on the Earth? - is it 30 years of experience? or is it 1 year of experience, repeated 30 times? - why should you go back to being confined in a small body and have no will of your own? - is the Earth our only classroom? - very few spirits seek for the spirit world when they pass out! thrown upon the shores of the AfterLife, like ship-wrecked mariners! - it strikes at the root of survival of conscious individuality which alone can bring any satisfaction to the mind! click here to access article

"Where are you, companion of my soul? Are you in the temple praying for me? Or are you in the meadow, holding communion with nature, the source of your wonderment and dreams? Do you remember the paths and hills we walked together? Bodies have purposes that we do not know. They are divided for worldly reasons and taken far apart for earthly ends. But spirits remain in the hand of love, safe until death comes and bears them away to God. Go, my lover, life has given you an order, so you must obey. Where are you now, my companion? Do you lie wakeful in the silence of the night? Do you hear my call and my grief from beyond the seas? Are there no spirits in the air who will transmit the agonized breaths of a dying man? I have charged the breeze whenever it blows to bear to you the beating of my heart. Where are you, My Life?" Kahlil Gibran

48.  Personal Statement: Things You Don't Wanna Know: Evolution: The Double Helix and the Unexpressed Wonder: Neither Creationism nor Gradualism Credibly Explains the Enigma of Existence! My High School English-Class Speech, the Controversy, and the Double A-Plus!

one more sunset, baby:
the cold November day by the lake,
the girl who suddenly came riding,
and the boy who learned only one thing (37)

• click here for Part II: Personal Statements #51 - 100